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TechQuiet 7d · day 9

Cloudflare halves DNS build delay, cuts memory use 85%

Cloudflare built a planner that rebuilds only affected DNS zones instead of entire zones, slashing resource consumption.

newest coverage 6d agosummary written 8d ago13 pieces198 likes & upvotes80 comments NewswiresHacker NewsMastodonReddit

What to know

  • Cloudflare reduced DNS rebuild time by 50% and peak memory usage by 85% through targeted zone rebuilds instead of full zone rebuilds.
  • The optimization cuts unnecessary full rebuilds by 40% using a planner that selects the smallest safe build needed when settings change.
  • The work reflects Cloudflare's broader engineering culture prioritizing efficiency gains in infrastructure software.
many voices

Cloudflare's optimization work reflects a strong engineering culture that deserves recognition.

  • “Cloudflare always had a pretty strong culture around optimisation. If you go back and read the blog there are a lot of blogs about reducing CPU, latency, RAM, etc. through software.”

    jgrahamc · Hacker News ↗
some voices

Efficiency optimizations like this have limited business ROI except for large-scale infrastructure companies.

  • “It is a pretty small niche of companies where compute resource efficiency on the server side has a meaningful business bottom line impact.”

    colechristensen · Hacker News ↗
some voices

Poor software optimization is widespread across applications, particularly those built with Electron.

  • “I just got angry this weekend about my Mac with 64GB of RAM going OOM because of poorly optimized applications. Use of web tech, especially Electron, was common among basically all of the offending applications.”

    placatedmayhem · Hacker News ↗

Cloudflare DNS infrastructure providerAlex Fattouche Cloudflare author

How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments

Peak 6 pieces in two hours at Nov 2, 10 AM; 13 pieces over 9 days (2 articles · 3 posts · 8 comments) Nov 2, 8 AM — 3 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post — Newswires 2, Hacker News 1Nov 2, 10 AM — 6 pieces · 1 post · 5 comments — Hacker News 5, Mastodon 1Nov 2, 12 PM — 2 pieces · 2 comments — Hacker News 2Nov 2, 2 PM — 1 piece · 1 comment — Hacker News 1Nov 2, 4 PM — quietNov 2, 6 PM — quietNov 2, 8 PM — quietNov 2, 10 PM — quietNov 3, 12 AM — quietNov 3, 2 AM — quietNov 3, 4 AM — quietNov 3, 6 AM — quietNov 3, 8 AM — quietNov 3, 10 AM — quietNov 3, 12 PM — quietNov 3, 2 PM — quietNov 3, 4 PM — quietNov 3, 6 PM — quietNov 3, 8 PM — quietNov 3, 10 PM — quietNov 4, 12 AM — quietNov 4, 2 AM — quietNov 4, 4 AM — quietNov 4, 6 AM — quietNov 4, 8 AM — quietNov 4, 10 AM — quietNov 4, 12 PM — quietNov 4, 2 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Reddit 1Nov 4, 4 PM — quietNov 4, 6 PM — quietNov 4, 8 PM — quietNov 4, 10 PM — quietNov 5, 12 AM — quietNov 5, 2 AM — quietNov 5, 4 AM — quietNov 5, 6 AM — quietNov 5, 8 AM — quietNov 5, 10 AM — quietNov 5, 12 PM — quietNov 5, 2 PM — quietNov 5, 4 PM — quietNov 5, 6 PM — quietNov 5, 8 PM — quietNov 5, 10 PM — quietNov 6, 12 AM — quietNov 6, 2 AM — quietNov 6, 4 AM — quietNov 6, 6 AM — quietNov 6, 8 AM — quietNov 6, 10 AM — quietNov 6, 12 PM — quietNov 6, 2 PM — quietNov 6, 4 PM — quietNov 6, 6 PM — quietNov 6, 8 PM — quietNov 6, 10 PM — quietNov 7, 12 AM — quietNov 7, 2 AM — quietNov 7, 4 AM — quietNov 7, 6 AM — quietNov 7, 8 AM — quietNov 7, 10 AM — quietNov 7, 12 PM — quietNov 7, 2 PM — quietNov 7, 4 PM — quietNov 7, 6 PM — quietNov 7, 8 PM — quietNov 7, 10 PM — quietNov 8, 12 AM — quietNov 8, 2 AM — quietNov 8, 4 AM — quietNov 8, 6 AM — quietNov 8, 8 AM — quietNov 8, 10 AM — quietNov 8, 12 PM — quietNov 8, 2 PM — quietNov 8, 4 PM — quietNov 8, 6 PM — quietNov 8, 8 PM — quietNov 8, 10 PM — quietNov 9, 12 AM — quietNov 9, 2 AM — quietNov 9, 4 AM — quietNov 9, 6 AM — quietNov 9, 8 AM — quietNov 9, 10 AM — quietNov 9, 12 PM — quietNov 9, 2 PM — quietNov 9, 4 PM — quietNov 9, 6 PM — quietNov 9, 8 PM — quietNov 9, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — quietYesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 4 AM — quiet 1–2
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  1. 2

    Post gains attention on Hacker News

    The Cloudflare blog post reached Hacker News frontpage with 175 points and 70 comments, drawing discussion about the optimization effort and its broader implications.

    “Cloudflare always had a pretty strong culture around optimisation. If you go back and read the blog there are a lot of blogs about reducing CPU, latency, RAM, etc. through software. It's one of the key features of how Cloudflare has been successful and an important part of succeeding in today's world.”
    — jgrahamc, Former Cloudflare CTO · source

    • >Curious what the R&D / efficiency development ROI is on reducing memory footprint. I suppose we should both consider current ROI and near future ROI (as the price of memory will likely stay high for at least another 1-2 years).It is a pretty small niche of companies where compute resource efficiency on the server side has a meaningful business…

      colechristensenHacker News8d agoview on Hacker News ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 8 posts in this stretch

    • Cloudflare always had a pretty strong culture around optimisation. If you go back and read the blog there are a lot of blogs about reducing CPU, latency, RAM, etc. through software. It's one of the key features of how Cloudflare has been successful and an important part of succeeding in today's world.Source: I was Cloudflare's CTO.

      jgrahamcHacker News8d agoview on Hacker News ↗

    • I have been wondering if the memory scarcity would lead to a desire to optimize software to be more efficient.Curious what the R&D / efficiency development ROI is on reducing memory footprint. I suppose we should both consider current ROI and near future ROI (as the price of memory will likely stay high for at least another 1-2 years).

      thephyberHacker News8d agoview on Hacker News ↗
    all of them →
  2. 1

    Cloudflare publishes DNS optimization details

    Cloudflare published a blog post detailing how it built a planner system that rebuilds only affected DNS zones instead of entire zones when settings change, reducing full builds by 40%, peak memory by 85%, and halving build delay.

    “Zone setting changes used to rebuild entire DNS zones, even ones with tens of millions of records. Here is how we built a planner that picks the smallest safe build, cutting full builds by 40%, peak memory by 85%, and halving build delay.”
    — Alex Fattouche
    1. 1 outlet We halved DNS build delay and cut memory use by 85%

      first by HN Frontpage, 8d ago

    2. 1 outlet How we halved DNS build delay and cut memory use by 85%

      first by Cloudflare Blog, 8d ago

What people are saying 5 voices from 1 site · best of 8 · verbatim